Abstract/Summary

Given the socioeconomic challenges persisting across much of Africa, and the complex and dynamic nature of city spaces, ongoing investigationsinto how young informal vendors manage and negotiate their everyday lives in often challenging urban areas are needed. An ethnographic methodology was employed, involving 51 participants (37 youth participants and 14 key stakeholders) in Arusha and Dar es Salaam. Ethnographic, mobile, participatory, and qualitative methods were used with youth participants (aged 15-35) undertaking small-scale informal businesses. The study draws on understandings of youth as social ‘being and becoming’ to explore how multiple aspects of young people’s lives are shaped by an interplay between the present and future. Several issues connected to young vendors’ lives and livelihoods are examined including, their migration trajectories within the lifecourse, their daily spatial and temporal mobilities in the city, their engagements in support networks and caring relationships, changes to gender norms and ongoing gender inequalities in urban areas, and participants’ aspirations and support needs. The research found young vendors’ efforts and decisions in the present were linked to their anticipated futures. It also reveals how young people’s everyday roles, practices, and choices were influenced by their interconnectedness and interdependence with others. It finds that while these connections can present opportunities to youth, they can also constrain their abilities to obtain socially desired adulthood. This study provides nuanced insights into the complex, diverse, and interconnected lives and livelihoods of young vendors, who continuously attempt to adapt to, and manage, the changing nature of city life. It contributes towards a relatively new but growing body of research analysing young people working informally.